Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #4-5 is a decent, if a little rushed retelling of Iron Man’s origin story awkwardly sandwiched into a mandated team-up with Spider-Man because this is technically his book.
Ultimate X-Men #7-9 goes for a more political look at the well-worn “mutant as a metaphor for oppressed minorities” story by making the formerly shady Weapon X folks completely aligned with the US government even if members of the government and military want to shut them down.
Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #2-3 succeeds on a superficial level with artists Phil Hester and Ande Parks showing the Hulk’s destructive, powerhouse nature compared to the spindly Spider-Man, who can only bait him or run away. (They do get points off for making Spidey’s webs looking like used bubble gum.) Writer Brian Michael Bendis also deserves credit for depicting Spider-Man simultaneous heroism and freaking out and ending the story with Peter Parker passed on the couch in front of the TV, like most people do after a hard day’s work. However, though still a disaster film worthy smashing machine courtesy of Hester, the Hulk is a one dimensional wrecking crew and could’ve easily been subbed in for the Abomination.
Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #1 introduces a more traditional version of Wolverine to the Ultimate Marvel Universe. He is gruff and violent, but actually wants to co-exist with humans and leave his dark past behind. In a later filler arc of Ultimate Spider-Man, Bendis would explore the comic potential of a Wolverine/Spider-Man team up, but he looks at the more serious implications of being a mutant in the Ultimate Universe while also making Spidey kind of geek out around him. Even if Sabretooth is a fur coat wearing punching bag and some of jokes don’t land, it is a rare privilege to see comics legend Matt Wagner put Spider-Man through his acrobatic paces and use the full comics page (or two) to its storytelling potential.